Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Bless you, pastor Rod. He was about to sneeze. He's here though. He is here, and I think I just took his sneeze from him by blessing him before his sneeze, which I don't know if the blessing counts now. It probably doesn't, so I take it back. Thank you. I take it back, I think. Yeah. Thanks for not blessing me. Yeah, you're welcome man. Hey, hey. So there were elections this past week. There were, and some of them were pretty troubling. In fact, I guess we would say that the results of the majority of them were disconcerting maybe. And this guy that's in New York City, democratic Socialist that's this mayor there up. In New York City. Any thoughts for us as Christians? It seems separate from us. It seems like there's a lot of people that wanna make it a really big deal, and yet it's really easy for us to live here where we are and not have it impact us. And in reality, the mayor of New York City doesn't really impact us. But, Moeller and others have said that this is foreboding. It's a sign of what's to come, especially on the Democratic party. That side of things. And I think it relates a little bit to what we're talking about in our text today that there can be a lot of things when we look at the signs of the times and everything else like that. And then we look at what's going on in our nation that can lead to anxiety. So Pastor had some comforting thoughts for people that might be a little. Frustrated by what's going on right now, or anxious even about what's going on right now. I would say you should be at this Sunday's sermon. Okay. Because. One of the maybe biggest misconceptions about being a Christian is that life is meant to be hunky dory. And I guess in some sense you could say Jesus came to give life and that to the abundant, to the fullest. So there is joy in the Christian life that is bigger and better than what life has to offer. However, that doesn't mean that you're gonna be without suffering and difficulty. And the suffering and difficulty for Christians in New York now is gonna be, you have. A Muslim democratic socialist mayor that I'm sure will make things more challenging for them as they make headway in the culture, in the coming weeks and years ahead. So, I would say that the most comforting thing is to remember that this world is not our home. We're gonna fight for what's good and right and true. We're gonna vote for people that are gonna help us further the cause of Christ. But the winds are not always gonna blow in our favor. In fact, we're told by Jesus to expect the opposite, and that doesn't change the fact that he's still in control and that he's still doing what's right and good. And our job is to do what's right and good regardless of what the cost is. This is interesting given your most recent sermon about submitting to the leadership of the day. I think there's a lot of questions for Christians who are saying, what do I do now? Mm-hmm. I've got this Muslim mayor and he's going to tell us to do this, that, and the other thing, and it's against Christian principles and Christian virtues. That's gonna be an interesting conversation and if you have any ideas about that or thoughts on that, I'd love to hear what you would say. But I would say, by and large, this doesn't change a lot for us. But it does have implications for us. A few weeks ago, the guys talked about in the men's Bible study, something called the Overton Window. There was a political economic. Commentator, Joseph Overton, he talks about how the Overton window describes the public discourse that is acceptable and able to be talked about and understood as normal. But the Overton window can be shifted. It can be moved to left or right depending on what's happening in the culture. And this is one of those moments that can shift the window. And you have a Democratic socialist, so let's. In the office that moves the window leftward and it creates a more left-leaning political discourse that we're not used to. And this is exactly how you got gay marriage. This is how you have transgender rights because the window is shifting if you just move back. 20 years ago, none of this was on the radar because it didn't fit the Overton window. We were talking about different issues. We were having a political discourse that was more favorable to the things that we would be more inclined to talk about. But that's changed. So I would say this is gonna affect us. Maybe not immediately, but certainly downstream, we're gonna have to deal with some of these issues that this election brings about. Yeah, a hundred percent. I agree with you. Yeah, I think those are comforting words for us. And a good reminder, I was thinking about it. We have been writing a year of feeling pretty good about things after the election of Trump and the Republicans taking both houses in Congress. And granted we're in the midst of this government shutdown and feeling some pains there, but this is kind of that first. Reminder to us that hey this is not our victory party. That there's still a battle out there. And not to overly politicize our faith, but there's certainly we were talking about just this, just the other day as we were talking about this as shepherds just Republican versus Democrats and is there a Christian party? And while at the end of the day we would say, no, there's no Christian party. Mm-hmm. There's certainly. One party that seems to favor the biblical principles and things that we would stand on as Christians more than the other. So, it is a reminder to us that there is a world out there that is in opposition to what we believe and what we stand for. Not just politically, but also as Christians and in. Your words about this weekend are well taken as well. I'll be there on Sunday. So will you be there? I'll be there. Well, I won't be. That's true. You won't be. I will not be there. In fact, if you're looking for me on Sunday, I will be gone. Pastor PJ's letting me leave the office for a few hours to go to California and be with my family as we mourn my brother's law. So my brother's memorials on Saturday. Yeah, we'll leave Saturday morning, Kristen and I, and then we will be back Sunday evening, I think after the time difference where it's just before eight o'clock. I just got an email today from. American Airlines saying that the FAA is having them cut their flights by 10%. Yeah. So I anticipate leaving on Saturday. I think I'll be back on Sunday. Yeah. God willing, that will take place. But I won't know until it happens. But you can pray for me that I would be helpful to my family, that I would take opportunities to. Leverage that situation for gospel conversations. We'd really like that. That's my heart, that's my desire. I wanna serve my family well, and that's one way that I think I can do that. So if you think about us while we're gone, we'd appreciate your prayers about that. Yeah, please do be praying for them and you heard Pastor Rod mention a memorial and sometimes we throw out memorial and funeral and we use those terms interchangeably, but they are two different things. They are a memorial is the service that's. That is carried out without the presence of the body being there. And a funeral has the body there, whether it's an open or closed casket is gonna change from time to time. But those are the two differences there. In Memorial, the body's not there. Funeral, the body is there. Yeah. So technically it is a memorial. There is a viewing that if we get there at our anticipated time, we'll be able to make the viewing and then go to the memorial. So it will be a memorial, but the body will be available to be viewed. Yeah. Which I guess let's talk again, we haven't talked about this recently. Yeah. Talk about. Cremation Yeah. Versus a burial. Yeah. I we want to honor the body. The body is created in the image of God. We believe there's a future for the body. We believe that on that the last day when the trumpet sounds, that the bodies that are buried will be resurrected. And so, I think it was our sending pastor once said, if you're standing in a graveyard, you're gonna see all these bodies that are gonna leave the graves and they're gonna go to meet their souls that are in heaven at the time. And that's when we receive our glorified bodies. It's kind of a crazy thing that the body stays, but there is still a future for it and. People will often say, well, does that mean somebody that's cremated can't be resurrected? The answer is no, of course not. That person's gonna be resurrected. Right. Just like somebody that dies in a fiery explosion or anything else like that, that body is gonna be resurrected. That's right. But as Christians, we want to honor the body because we do believe that there is a future for it. It's the first Corinthians 15 idea of sowing that which is perishable. To be raised imperishable. Mm-hmm. And so that's why we would advise you. We're not gonna argue you're in sin if somebody's cremated, but we would advise you and we would counsel you. It's an honorable thing to bury somebody now. As your pastors, we wanna walk through that process with you because you may sit there and think Yeah but cremation is far cheaper and a lot of times it is. But there's a lot of times where you can be shrewd about your engagement with the funeral homes and things like that. They're gonna try to upsell you on everything and we, as your pastors would be happy to help you walk through that in a biblical way, in a god honoring way, if that's a concern for you. Yeah, that's been. One of the most common conversations that I've had with people that are looking at how to care for the body after the memorial or the funeral and cremation ends up being one of the most obvious answers for people For that very reason, it's much more affordable and. You can do certain things with those ashes that you can't do when you're burying somebody. But burial is an act of faith. Yeah, it's it's one way that our faith is expressed not only in life, but in death. It's similar to a wedding ring. The wedding ring doesn't make you married, but it shows that you are and being. Buried doesn't make you a Christian, but it shows that you are, it's not all that it shows. Obviously lots of people get buried and not only Christians, but it's one way for us to say that we believe in the future hope of the resurrection, that because Christ went first, we also will be resurrected. And so we plant our bodies in the ground with the expectation that we're gonna be raised again. And so again, it's not sin to cremate a loved one, but in so far as you're able to think about it beforehand and you should, we would strongly encourage you. If your faith is in Christ, that this is a way for you to show your faith in Christ by burying that person, burying that body with the expectation, it'll be raised again. Yeah. There's also, you know, there's practical factors too. Being able to visit someone's graveside is a. Beautiful thing. Yeah. And I appreciated being able to do that. When we were back in California, we had some people that were buried not too far from us, and we'd go and visit their grave. That was great. Mm-hmm. So there's a practical element to that, but there's also, again the best and most helpful framing of this is that it's a. Matter of your faith, it's a practice that showcases your faith. Mm-hmm. It is a few thousand dollars more. Yeah. So you should, as much as you're able to take this burden off of your relative shoulders and prepare for that. Yeah. If you can buy your plot before you need it, that would be a good thing. Yeah. Um, you would save your family the heartache and the headache of having to plan all this while they're mourning your loss. And that's a really hard place to be. I haven't done this yet. Yeah. But I have every intention of doing this for myself and for Kristen. So that our family can just say, all right let's just be sad that they're gone. They've taken care of all those things. The burial plot is there. They've paid for the cardboard box. They're gonna be buried in, right? They're gonna save money somewhere. Um, Costco sells them. If you're looking, if you have a Costco membership, they sell the, uh, casket caskets that you can purchase. And there's different kinds, different, I mean, you don't need anything fancy, obviously it doesn't need Bluetooth and wifi connectivity. Nope. Not gonna use it. Nope. So as much as you're able to plan ahead. Do the things for your family, that would be one good way you could serve them. And again, get buried if at all possible. One more thing I wanna address real quick here is you mentioned there's gonna be a viewing. Some people may say, why as Christians, we would say the soul's gone. Yeah, they're not there. So what's the significance? Why is a viewing so helpful and important for us? His widow and I talked before this took place. And she said, Hey, what do you recommend? And I said, if at all possible, I would love for his body to be present. And I, I think that for several reasons, but I'll just stick with one. One important reason is I want people to reckon with death. Yeah. I want them to see the body. I. And to recognize that death is a serious foe. It's an enemy. It's the last enemy to be defeated, according to one Corinthians chapter 15, and I want that weight to be upon their shoulders. In fact, as a pastor, when I preach a memorial, ideally a funeral, I have someone right in front of me that is making my sermon point for me, death is real. It's evil. It's sad. And boy, you ought make sure that your death is being considered. This is Ecclesiastes chapter seven, yet again, I quoted it a few days ago, but this is hopefully a way for the living to take it to heart, so when the body's there, it reminds people, death is real. It's imminent. We don't know when it's coming. It's a pop quiz for most of us, and so we ought to be ready. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. We are in Matthew chapter 24 today, just one chapter, and that allowed us a little bit extra time to talk through some pretty important things on the front end here. So hopefully that was a benefit to you. Matthew 24 we've covered quite a bit of this material. This is the signs of the times we've talked about the abomination of desolation, I believe in yesterday's episode. We talked about the antichrist, the three and a half years. That is gonna be the breaking. Of the peace treaty that he's gonna make with Israel. The suffering, the torment that's gonna happen there. Then the second coming, what the second coming is gonna be like that we're gonna see him riding on the clouds with power. We didn't mention this, I don't think, but that's an illusion back to Daniel chapter seven. So Jesus is basically saying, Hey, I'm gonna be the fulfillment of Daniel chapter seven. Again, another, testimony to his deity there as he is talking about these things. But one thing that's interesting that I noted in at least Matthew 24, I don't know if it's in the other ones here. The disciples say, tell us when these things will be, and what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? At this time, they're still expecting the kingdom. They're expecting him to go in. So I found myself wondering where were they expecting him to go? They're asking him, what's gonna be the sign of your coming? What were they thinking? Because they. They clearly didn't have a, an expectation that he was gonna leave because Luke 24 is two of them, not of the 12 necessarily but two of his disciples just crushed because of the death of Christ. So it's just interesting to me to know, okay, what prompted this question that they would think that he's leaving and going somewhere? He said he was. But what was their understanding of that? Yeah, that's a great question. And that would be one of those questions I'm not sure we can answer super well because there's so many complexities about human interactions and there's only so much that we can derive from the text itself. And even though it's a great question, I don't know that we can really do justice to the answer, right? They must have thought something like, oh, maybe he's going on a trip. He's coming back to receive the kingdom. He did talk about the parable of the man who goes away, he entrusted his disciples. Yeah. With responsibility. This is not the parable of the talents in the next chapter. This is the, that's a similar parable, similar account. So maybe they're thinking he's gonna go receive the kingdom and come back. Who knows what they're thinking. But I found, and I always find it interesting in verse 12, because of lawlessness, because lawlessness will be increased. The love of many will grow cold. Now this is a fascinating thought because you might not intuitively put this together where you think coldness of heart. Comes from, lawlessness, or lawless disobedience from God. What's the connection there? How do we put those two pieces together? But this this is what Jesus says. What's the connection? Help us figure this out. Yeah. The idea there of do you love the world more or do you love Jesus more? I think is gonna be the litmus test for a lot of people. And so as lawlessness is increased as immorality increases, I think it's going to have a purging effect on the church. We've talked about this as it becomes harder to be a Christian, you're gonna see those that are truly believers in those that aren't. And so I think there's gonna be those that. Would appear to have a love for Christ that would profess a love for Christ, that when the godlessness of the world increases, I mean that, that devotion that they have, this is kinda the parable of the sower, right? It's that soil that initially is like, yes, I love Jesus, but then the cares of the world pull them away or tribulation pulls them away and they end up falling away because they didn't really, truly have the love for Christ to begin with. Yeah. Amen to that. I think, so verse 10 here it says They'll fall away. Many will fall away and betray one another, and. Hate one another. So I think it's a love for God. A love for man, that when you sin, you are hardening your heart against God and your fellow man. Yeah. In such a way that it compounds and callouses your heart. You might not ever think that, but God is saying here, Jesus is saying God in the flesh that you sin can. Callous your heart against having genuine love flowing from it. Which again, I don't know that I'd ever think about it that way, but I love how Jesus simplifies this idea. Yeah. One way for you to keep your love burning hot for the Lord is to obey him. And when you do that, you love him and you love others in the process. That's how you guard your heart. You do what's right in his sight. Yeah. Yeah. In Matthew 24, verse 34, and Jesus says, truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. That's an important verse for us to probably clarify, and I think we've done this in the past, but just to remind us it's helpful. The generation that he's talking about is the generation that begins to witness these end time signs. And he's saying, this is not gonna be dragged out for eons and centuries. This is going to take place within the span of a generation and the generation that begins to see these things happen. The abomination of desolation, all these other things, it's not gonna pass away before all of these things come to fulfillment and fruition. So he's talking about the timing that's yet future, at that time, he's not. Speaking to the disciples themselves saying, you're not gonna pass away until these things take place. Okay, now I heard recently that someone predicted the return of Christ again. Can you use Matthew 24 at all to help speak to that prediction that Jesus is coming back on this date and this time? Aside from his statement that no one knows the hour. You talking about beyond that? Yeah. I mean again, yeah, he says nobody knows, not even the sun. And that one's one of those where I think that's in the Kenosha state, the self emptying state that we talked about a couple episodes ago. But yeah. Anytime you hear somebody say it's gonna be June 14th, then you can, maybe it will be, but not because that person is predicting that it's gonna be June 14th. Yeah. Someone's gonna get it right accidentally, right? Yeah. Or you know what? I wonder? I wonder if God would be like, you know what? I'm not gonna do it on that day just because. Just because I don't want you to think you were right, so I was gonna scoot it over. Yeah. He might even just super intend the whole world to make it so that no one guesses that one day. And then he comes. He's like, that's true. I told you, I told you. Yeah. I find it fascinating that he says here, verse 38, for as in those days before the flood, they were eating, drinking, marry, and giving into marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. So he is trying to make the point here that for everybody who's going to be subjected to his judgment? They're not gonna have any clue. No, they're just gonna be living their best life now. Sun's gonna be shining, doing all the things that they normally do, enjoying the common grace of God. And then he brings judgment, which tells us that we need to be careful not to be lulled into inactivity, which is why he says in verse 42, stay awake for you. Do not know on what day the Lord, uh your Lord is coming. And that's really true for us. As dispensational. We believe that the rapture is the next event on the eschatological calendar. And so we need to be ready all the time. I tell my kids all the time, we don't know when our time is. We just have to be ready. We always have to be ready. You're not guaranteed. Another day, we just heard about a news report of a young man, 24 a, a well-known man making tons of money whose life is over and. No one expected it. No one knew it was coming. Maybe he did, I suppose. But this is how frail and fleeting life is. Our job is not to count the number of our days, but to make our days count and to do so in honor of the Lord Jesus. To be prepared for his return and pray that he would come quickly. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes there's those Twitter accounts like, is this happening today? And like there's a. Player for the Mavericks who always gets elbowed in the face. And so there's a whole Twitter account that's just, did Dwight Powell get hit in the face today? And And they'll say yes. And so I wonder if somebody's got a Twitter account. Is Jesus coming back today? Maybe. Yeah. And that's the whole thing over and over and over again. That's funny. Yeah. Well, hey, let's pray and then we'll be done with this episode. God, we do want to be those that are ready, that are prepared, that are waiting for the return of Christ. And so help us to live that way and to hold this world loosely. It's so easy, like Pastor Rod was just saying for us to be caught up in the sports that are happening today and the fact that there's this game scheduled for next week or there's elections coming up, or I've got this on my calendar and we just assume that it's gonna happen because there's no foreboding signs and the earthquakes aren't happening in our backyard and everything else like that. And yet we know what's true is that you will come back at a time that we're not expecting. And so help us to live ready for it, that we might not shrink in shame at your coming, but that'd we would be ready to receive the commendation of well done good and faithful servants. So we pray that we live that life in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Keep reading the Bibles tune again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See you folks. Bye.

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Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said